MARYLAND TACOMAS

SM17 ???

 

Sitting at Jones this morning getting an oil change and picked up wiper inserts.

If I’m not lazy this weekend or my wife has other plans for me, I’m going to swap the coil springs on my truck. It’ll be different to have King Blue springs, i liked the Ironman green with the black truck.

I’ll have to repaint the tailgate letters if the blue springs are gonna stay.

 

Would you repaint them blue to match?

 

Yeah, I think so, or as close as I can get to it. I think plasti dip has a close blue.

was also considering painting the emblems the same but I feel that’s something younger people do and older are black, chrome or removed

 

lol yeah the first thing I did when I got my truck was put the black overlays on top of all the horrible chrome.

I’m sure blue would look really good on the tailgate insert though.

 

The green looked good… really most colors look good with black… besides chrome

 

Jason,
You can’t go wrong with @Diode Dynamics. They aren’t crazy expensive for LED’s… and are much better and brighter than the Amazon “specials”! I’m running DD’s for fogs, ditch, interior, and tag lights… never a single problem with any of them! And it looks like even with their bulbs, you can pick white or yellow color just like their higher-end complete light kits!

https://www.diodedynamics.com/fog-light-leds-for-2012-2015-toyota-tacoma-pair.html

edit:
They are always running specials. If you sign up for emails, you’ll get emails like once a week with discounts and coupons too!

 

Eric,
Do you have the black overlays on your truck that you’ll be painting? I thought you were de-badged? Anyway, if you’re looking for the inserts for the tailgate “TACOMA”… check out TuffSkins. I bet the VooDoo blue inserts would match those beautiful Kings pretty good! I have their real carbon fiber inserts and love them. Been on truck for over 2 years and no fade what so ever!! Hell, for $50… that’s worth just not having to do any painting prep work or painting. Just peel, stick and done! They have the matching inserts for the glovebox lettering too… set it off!

https://www.tufskinz.com/collection...tailgate-toyota-tacoma?variant=32926034133088

 

Thanks Mike. Right now they are just plasti dipped/sprayed black.
That’s not a bad idea, even more so since it’s not a great idea to spray paint anything while the temps are lower than 50° I’ll take a look and see on that site.

I’m really interested to see how the Ironman foam cell struts pair with the king springs. I know the struts are valved stiffer but was hesitant to go 600# springs from the 720.

 

Are the IronMan struts adjustable or are they a fixed valve? Either way, I’m sure they’ll be fine.

 

Thanks, me too. They are adjustable. So I have to math too…. Since the kings are shorter than the IM springs and they’ll compress a little more. Fun times!

 

That make sit a bit more difficult. My fear is that if I would do the whole job in my driveway and something went horribly wrong, then you would be in a bad position. When I did my T4R, I literally dropped the lower BJ from the control arm, swung the whole brake assembly up enough for the stub shaft to pass through the hub, then popped out the inner joint and removed the shaft. Easy enough if everything goes to plan, really bad if you find out that you had a hidden issue or the new boots don't fit for whatever reason and the old ones are destroyed.

I can research how the front ends come apart, yours in a 3rd gen, right? I forgot that quickly.

 

Tungsram Platinum H11s

Tungsram H11-55NHP/BP2 Nighthawk Platinum Automotive Bulb, 2-pack

https://www.amazon.com/Tungsram-H11-55NHP-BP2-Nighthawk-Automotive/dp/B08B8Y259H

 

Thanks - 2nd gen. Basically the nut comes off, ball joint drops and bob's your uncle. Then it's about pulling apart the CV or having a boot-stretcher.

 

What about spring spacers? Not like the top hats for leveling kits above the assembly… mor like the spacers that are inside the assembly. For instance when using two different springs for variable rate coils?

…they call it a slider I guess. But I assume one on top and bottom of the new coil may help with your length issue.

 

i just ordered this stuff - can bring them and the truck and $ to anyone with an air compressor and hands that work better than mine

 

Yup, got that covered too. I have spring isolators and aluminum spacers as the spring seat. I had to cut the spacers some, now they just need paint. The new springs with the those two things is just under 1/4” shorter now.

Looking at the temperature tomorrow, it might be iffy to spray paint even if I bring them in right after.

 

We had a air powered Snap-On boot stretcher & multiple sized boot kits at my old shop, definitely a nice tool to have.

 

I've never used a stretcher, I didn't know such an animal even existed!

Good evening peeps! I hope that everyone is staying warm. I've got the woodstove cranked up and the heatpump is still kicking on.

 

Makes boot replacements quick & easy if you catch a damaged boot before the cv joint is compromised.

I've had my ole Fisher fired up all day, furnace hasn't kicked on yet.